Disclaimer: I own absolutely none of the characters in this story! I only own the situations that happen to them.

A/N: Thank you so much to all of you who are reviewing and to those of you who are silent readers. It's wonderful knowing that there are readers out there enjoying the story, and I really hope you like this new installment!

Previously:

"So why are you so bent on mastering such an obviously dangerous spell, Hermione?" asked Peter, uncertainly.

Hermione hid her alarm quickly. She had not forgotten Peter's tainted future and just in case he did wind up following in his future's foot steps, she did not want to give too much away to a potential future enemy.

"Oh, I just like mastering things that others find difficult," she replied vaguely, waving off his concern.

"Bit of a risk taker, are you?" asked Remus, his eyes searching. Hermione wandered belatedly if werewolves could smell if someone was lying. Fearing that was the case, she made sure to look him directly in the eye and replied with a stern "Yes. I am."

Chapter 12: Enter the Greasy Git!

The next morning came quickly. Hermione and Lily walked down to the common room together and were almost shocked to find the marauders already dressed and waiting.

"Wow! I can't believe you guys are up, much less dressed!"

"Yeah, what's the special occasion?" inquired Lily.

"Nothing we just have a lot to going on today and we wanted to make sure Re-.. Uh we get enough to eat. You know, we've got to keep our strength up." Sirius divulged. "Growing boys and all that."

Hermione eyed each of the boys, taking in their bleary-eyed faces and frequent yawns. Remus stuck out to her, though. He looked a little pale, tired and anxious all at the same time. Quickly going over the calendar in her mind, she realized what exactly was causing the boys to act so out of character. 'The full moon is tonight. Remus must have been feeling antsy this morning and decided to wake the boys up.' She laughed to herself as she pictured Remus' reaction to being described as 'antsy.' 'Oh, I bet he'd just love that!'

"Well, we can't have you starving. You guys ready to head on down to breakfast then?" asked Hermione.

"Absolutely," replied James and then preceded to lead them to the portrait hole.

Hermione and Lily took up the rear. "Hermione, I'll see you this afternoon?"

"What?" asked Hermione, her tone confused. "Aren't you going to eat breakfast with us?"

"Well," replied Lily, feeling awkward. "I usually sit with Charlotte and the girls."

"Well," Hermione mimicked. "Not today. You have to sit with us. It'll be fun. And besides, I'm sure James wouldn't mind," she said trying to contain her grin.

Lily's green eyes cut her a sharp look. "That's exactly why I always sit with the girls. If I had to sit there and watch him mess with his hair every two seconds, I think I would barf. Or kill myself," she added almost as an afterthought.

Hermione couldn't help but laugh at Lily's attitude. "Oh c'mon, he's not that bad."

"Hermione," Lily began, "you're new so I will let that comment slide."

Hermione just rolled her eyes, "Come on Lily," she said seriously. "Sit with us. This will make up for the dinner I missed with you last night."

"Fine," sighed Lily. "But I'm doing this under protest as you well know."

"Thanks Lily!" Hermione enthused, throwing her arm over Lily's shoulders and giving her a squeeze as she set them into motion in the path of the boys. "It'll be fine. You'll see."

When Hermione and Lily eventually made their way into the Great Hall for breakfast, they were not surprised to find that the boys had not waited and were happily stuffing their faces. Approaching Remus' and Peter side of the table, the boys shifted down a bit to make room for them.

"It's about time," remarked Sirius as he momentarily paused his fork full of eggs on their way to his mouth to question them. "What have you been doing?"

"Well," said Hermione snootily, not liking his tone one little bit. "We needed to talk for a moment without your big mouth interrupting us, if that's ok with you."

He just glared at her and kept eating. Hermione rolled her eyes at Lily at Sirius' behavior. 'Acting like that, you would have thought he was Ron's godfather, not Harry's,' Hermione thought grumpily.

Her attention turned to James, who looked like he was trying desperately to finish the large sum of food in his mouth so he could talk to Lily.

"So, Lily," he said, and coughed to clear his throat. "It's nice of you to join us this morning." His eyes slid to Hermione to gauge her reaction about his manners. He reached up to run his fingers through his hair, feeling a little nervous.

"Don't. You. Dare!" Hermione mouthed at him. He frowned at her, and then realizing what he was doing, gave her a sheepish smile, and looked back at Lily.

Lily looked at Hermione, feeling a little confused at the sudden change. Hermione shrugged.

Beside Hermione, Remus shook his head to himself. When he had realized that Lily was accompanying Hermione to their table he had thrown a few hurried whispered suggestions to his love-sick friend to hopefully impress Lily with, the number one rule being for him to not open his mouth to her until he had finished what was in it.

Remembering her manners, Lily spoke up, "Yes, Hermione invited me to make up for missing last night's dinner."

"But I've invited you loads of times!" said James.

"Yes," she agreed, and then proceeded to follow Hermione's example, as she had been filling her plate.

James' seemed stumped at such a bland response and looked at Sirius, who was seated to his right, confused. Sirius shook his head to show he was equally as baffled by the oddity of the whole situation, but James decided to not harp on it and instead simply enjoy his good fortune.

"So, Hermione, what have you got planned for today?" asked Lily, as she took a sip of her pumpkin juice.

"It's back to the library for me. I want to find some different spells to try. I've decided to take a break from the last one for a while. I wouldn't want to put any strain on a poor old man," said Hermione, smiling at Sirius behind her own cup. He flashed a smile at her small joke.

"No," he agreed. "We can't have that." He winked at her flirtatiously, and Hermione couldn't help her smile at his cheesiness. 'No wonder he gets all of the girls, the flirt!' she thought, surprised at how different he was from his future self.

The group ate for a little while, Lily opening up, at Hermione's urging, to the group more than she normally would have done. Of course, James was as enchanted as usual, and decided he couldn't let an opportunity pass. "Hey Lily, are you planning to go on the Hogsmeade trip this weekend?"

"Actually I had forgotten all about it."

"Well," he cleared his throat again, "Do you want to come with m- us?" he amended. Seeing in her eyes that she was thinking up a proper refusal to his offer, he piped in, "Hermione will be there, won't you Hermione." It came out more of a statement than a question, and she looked up startled for a moment to see that everyone was staring intently at her awaiting her response. She saw James' pleading face, and turned to Lily, plastering a bright smile on her face.

"I sure am. It would be great not to be the only girl there with these four," she said tartly, nodding her head at the guys. Hermione cringed inwardly at how cheesy that came out. 'I just lied to Harry's mom,' she thought dully, 'and a friend.' The lie left a decidedly bad taste in her mouth that Hermione felt she could well do without. Hermione had always felt more comfortable around guys than girls, just look at who her best friends are.

"Fine," said Lily. "It could be fun." Because she looked a little doubtful at the thought of dealing with the marauders for a whole day, Hermione shot her a reassuring smile.

"It will be," Hermione promised.

Hermione was sitting in the library surrounded by four open books, cross referencing and her quill was moving furiously across her parchment. She was so enthralled in her findings that she was startled when Albus Dumbledore's voice broke through her concentration.

"Miss Granger?"

She nearly jumped out of her skin. 'Dumbledore sure moves quietly for an old man,' she thought fondly. "Yes, headmaster?"

"I need a private word. Would you come with me to my office?"

"Of course sir." Hermione quickly gathered her things into her bag while the headmaster waved his wand and the books sorted themselves into their proper places.

Seeing that she was ready, he began leading them out of the library; however, exiting the double doors, Hermione was shocked again when Dumbledore apologized for bumping into a passing student. The apology wasn't what had shocked her, it was who he was apologizing to.

"Oh, I'm sorry Severus. I didn't see you there," he said kindly.

Hermione couldn't help but stare at the young version of her potions instructor. A pale, sallow cheeked boy with long, dark and decidedly greasy hair fell down his cheeks where they clung, making the seventeen year old look deeply unhealthy and dirty.

He responded to Dumbledore's apology with nothing more than a grunt and a nod and went to pass until he noticed the girl standing behind him. Hermione's mind was in overdrive as she repeatedly thought in her head over and over "murderermurderermurderer," like some sort of sick mantra. She could feel the rage in her making her cheeks flush as she fought to not reach out and strike him.

Sensing her immediate dislike, he felt his own hackles rise, and gave a sort of snarl as he curled his lip in disgust. He stalked passed her without a word, but allowed his shoulder to roughly bang her arm. Hermione turned around sharply, holding her stinging arm to stare angrily after him, but he did not look back. She watched as he disappeared behind the numerous shelves of books, his robes billowing behind. Hermione could barely keep from charging after him thinking angrily to herself, 'Well he certainly hasn't changed. The greasy git.'

She turned back to find that Dumbledore had gotten quite some distance from her and was now waiting patiently for her to catch up. He had obviously missed the rude exchanged, and Hermione decided she would not be the one to tattle and divulge his rudeness.

"Sorry Professor," she said joining him again.

"Quite alright." She continued to follow him in silence and when they finally reached his office, she could feel tension in her neck and shoulders as she sat opposite his desk, and waited anxiously to hear what he had to talk to her about. She sensed whatever it was that he had to say to her was not going to be good due to the severe look on his face and the fact that he had said nothing to her on the walk there.

"Ms Granger," he said grimly, propping his elbows on his desk and touching his fingertips together to gaze at her across the width of the desk, "I'm afraid I have some very bad news that you and I need to discuss. And, I would like for the two of us to reach a decision before we leave here today.

Hermione sank back into her chair, still feeling tense. She set her bag down beside her and crossed her legs, sensing they were going to be there for awhile.

"Well then," she said bravely, sounding a lot more confident than she felt, "let's here it, shall we?"

A/N 2: Phew! That was a long one for me! I can't believe I was able to update so quickly and I'm sure you guys are surprised, too! Please let me know what you thought by reviewing. It means a lot!